Y&R: Week of April 27, 2009

[dm.]

Just check the show today for more on that.

[rhythmchyc]

Wow dmarex!

You mean we actually get to see Neil in a storyline where there's actually an immediate payoff for his decisions and actions? Nice.

[dm.]

Don't know about payoff... But it is surprising that he has more than 6 appearances this month. I'm stunned.

[dm.]

Damn, that teen stuff is really useless. Please, give us less of Eden and this version of Noah.

Hmmmm... Mary Jane saw Jack coaching Colleen... I hope she reports this to Victor (not that Victor already doesn't have his suspicious regarding the puppet).

[Paul Raven]

I am liking Mary Jane and in a way,I wish she was not Patty or Mari Jo etc.The whole plastic surgery thing could be a red herring

How's this for a theory?

Perhaps she is ,say,Lindsey Wells sister,who stood by and saw Lindsey go downhill and eventually kill herself,blaming Jack.Mary Jane needed money because of her surgery(From a car accident or fire) and is thus working for Victor,who tracked her down.

The Colleen/Victor thing is a dud.He keeps insisting JT find something to discredit Colleen-the girl is what 21?What could there be?

Break out the orange jmpsuit and the jail set as Phyllis joins the long list of Genoa City inmates.

[dm.]

That also sounds interesting. It just keeps the mystery alive.

Just as long as they don't make up some silly storyline that happened off-screen, it'll be fine.

She's been there before, it probably doesn't mean much to her.

[MarkH]

So, I'm sitting here, and I continue to be surprised at how oddly transitional Y&R seems to be this week (and last).

All soaps transition between stories, and Bill Bell was reputed for peaking some while starting others....the rolling wave of tales.

What I am perplexed by is how much we seem to have come to the Red Sea. Such a wholesale repositioning of so many people and things. Here is what I count:

- end of Kay amnesia and Jill-Kay maternity; launch of Kay's wedding

- beginning of the gaslight story; shift back to Adam

- end of Karen's marriage to Neil

- Neil quits Jabot

- End of the Delia custody fight--Lily/Cane and Billy-Chloe spin into separate orbits

- Cane reinvents as bartender again

- Lily reinvents as model (so does Colleen?)

- End of the chipmunk tale

- Ramp up of the Mary Jane story

That is a lot of endings and startings all in a few week period.

Where I am disquieted is this: Is it good to build such a structural lull into one's show? Shouldn't these starts and stops be spread over many weeks, so we barely perceive them happening?

There is a certain lack of artistry in such clunky construction, but more deeply, I find myself wondering WHY they did this? Are they writing from six-month bibles/story projections that have defined concluding points?

Let me be clear, I'm enjoying the show very much, and I like all the transitions I have seen above. Most of them make sense. I thought KSJ played his under-the-skin simmering resentment about the glass ceiling with strength and resolve and just the right note of inflexibility. I found Victor's coldness and lack of support for his erstwhile best man telling regarding what a total narcissistic d*ck Victor really is. But...it makes the show feel more "constructed" than "organic". I wonder if this is making any sense?

[dm.]

I had the exact same feeling while watching the last couple of episodes. It feels so different than what we had been watching for the previous few months. I don't mind the shift because I've grown a bit tired with some of the previous storylines, so we'll see how they handle the new ones. But I do agree, it seems just a tiny bit fast.

[classicmoment]

I know exactly what you mean and I get quite the same feeling. Maybe this month is used as such because of May sweeps? That's the first thing that comes to my head

[MarkH]

Yes, I really don't mind. I kind of like the sense that "change is in the air". But, structurally, some of the changes seem a bit abrupt...in my experience, more "B&B-like". For example, on yesterday's B&B, Bill Spencer Sr. suddenly died and launched a new storyline. Like that. No buildup.

Neil's resignation didn't feel QUITE lack that, but as brimike said yesterday, there wasn't much filler (e.g., watching Neil simmering with resentment) in the period between when he reacted to Nick's appointment a while back, and yesterday.

But, back to the positivity for which I have been roundly chastened :-) : There is nothing about the next few weeks that doesn't sound good to me.

Err...scratch that. If Adam is moving into "unredeemable" territory, I am going to be very upset.

[dm.]

Me too.

But look at it from the other side... Victor has done similar stuff and always managed to come out on top. Still, I don't want Adam to turn totally into his father. There's only one Victor Newman.

[Cat]

I found that "glass ceiling" comment by KSJ very powerful, too. And the way he delivered it quietly, but with the anger in his eyes... I would love it if Neil got a rival position at Jabot! I was worried though that this was the beginning of writing him off the canvas.

And the Colleen story with NE and Victoria is really starting to interest me. BTW, I just noticed how alike Stacy Haiduk, Amelia Heinle and Tammin Sursok look. Must be their Germano-central European antecedants.

Something bothering me about Y&R -- and I'm told this is a feature of Hogan Sheffer's writing -- is the emotional dependency of the women on the men.

Obviously, Sharon and Phyllis both come to mind -- and please, Phick-fans, Save the "OMGZ, Phyllis is totally strong & kickass & powerful & her own person unlike that whore Sharon!" posts. I'm not drinking that Kool-Aid.

Ashley stuck on that gloomy ranch, playing out scenes from "Rebecca." Seriously. What kind of freak has a statue made of his dead wife cradling their dead, unborn child -- for the garden?

But I also realized that my fave new character, Mary Jane, is entirely Victor's puppet. He is playing God, having her face resculpted in an image of his own choosing. Stefano on Days does this kind of stuff for kicks.

I cannot wait for MJ to break out from Victor's control and start following her own agenda. However, while Victor will probably emerge blameless for having changed and ruined her life in order to serve his nefarious purposes, Mary Jane will no doubt be written as "crazy loon" when she starts going off-message. Man, I really want her to stick around now!

[MarkH]

Well, I liked that statue very much. Did you see the look Abby and Ashley gave each other? They connected with the creepiness of it. The writers let us see it.

Indeed, since Ashley and Victor first -- er -- came together in Paris, the whole "romance" arc has been one of "daily disillusionments". The way he treated Adam. The way he deals with Jack (that one's not new). His insensitivity to Brad in the era surrounding Brad's death, and his comportment in the post-Brad era. More and more, she sees how deplorably he treats Adam. Telling everyone about her pregancy when she asked him not to. Now the statue.

When she learns how Victor has also been pulling the puppet strings in behind the scenes (e.g., engineering it so she loses leadership of Jabot, etc.), I think the tale is about building a wall to finally sever Ash from her unhealthy addiction to Victor. Seeing that, maybe Nikki can take a page from that book.

[MarkH]

Watching live for the first time in forever.

Would love to see this chemistry between Olivia and Neil explored.

The private conversation between Estella and Adam sure makes it seem they are NOT in cahoots.

[Cat]

From your lips to MAB's ears!

I have a feeling we're going to see a straight "Rebecca" rip-off today in the Haunted Ashley SL. Anybody who has ever read the book or seen the Hitchcock film will know what I'm talking about.